On Newsmakers, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said he will hold up the Senate’s business next week to force a debate on the debt limit. The Senate canceled its Fourth of July break to ensure discussions on raising the debt ceiling continues, but most of the discussions are happening behind the scenes.

Senator Paul said on Newsmakers that he “will filibuster until we talk about the debt ceiling.” He said the full Senate, instead of a small group of Senators, needs to engage in debate. He also said he and a group of conservative members would support raising the debt ceiling on one condition: “We will vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling if we can, but it will be contingent on passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. “

The truth is that it’s not about a “balanced budget.” The Republican vote to raise the debt ceiling will be contingent on whether they can tack on their far right social engineering schemes — killing Planned Parenthood, eliminating reproductive rights, and oppressing gays. These are the truly important issues in today’s Republican Party, and it’s proven by the simple fact that they’ve larded down every budget amendment with these religious right agenda items.